"We're challenged to serve people in shelters who have no income yet and are facing the biggest risks and trauma of their lives," said Brenda Torpy, director of Champlain Housing Trust.

Champlain Housing manages 1,500 housing units across northwest Vermont. "Through this program we'll set aside apartments discounted for COTS so they can move people in right away and start working with them right away in a real home, in a real neighborhood," Torpy said

A $130,000 state grant coupled with private foundation funding will help launch the project.

The apartments will be at Winchester Place, on Rt. 15 in Colchester.

Officials said the five families will pay a monthly fee to live there which will go into a fund to help make the program sustainable.

The three agencies will provide the families a range of services, including job and credit counseling, to help them re-establish a track record of financial responsibility and accelerate their ability to move into homes of their own.

Rita Markley, Executive Director of COTS, says the Burlington area rental apartment market remains so tight that one eviction effectively puts a family in desperate straights. "There are no second chances," she said, given the chronic lack of affordable housing in Chittenden County. "This program shoehorns people back into the housing market who would never otherwise have a chance."

Torpy predicts this model can become self-sustaining across the state. "It needs to be, because it's a lot more cost effective than the alternative."

Last year, Vermont taxpayers spent $2.1 million on 'overflow' motel rooms for families unable to stay in homeless shelters and who would otherwise freeze.

These five families "will get the supports and assistance they need to be successful longer term," Torpy said. "This isn't just the short-term expensive option the way we've had until now."